The Bestest Big Brother Ever
by FireEdge
Summary: As children are wont to do, Serenity and Mokuba get into a heated debate over whose big brother is better. However, Joey and Kaiba get the short end of the stick when they decide to swap places for a week... and big brothers.
1. Prologue

Hello everyone! This is my first foray in the Yu-Gi-Oh! section, so hopefully I won't make too bad of a first impression! Yes, the title has a non-existent word in it, but that's done on purpose as you will see.

Anyway, a few housekeeping items that I should probably get out of the way: 1) I have no idea where this takes place time-line wise. Sometime after Battle City is all I'm really counting (it's been a long time since I've actually seen the series, so please don't hurt me if there are continuity errors). 2) I am using the English dub names (because I am, unfortunately, much more used to them), however I will be employing the Japanese ages. 3) They are most likely in Japan. I say most likely because I'm actually not too sure where they are myself. I think right now they're in Japanamerica since I've mixed up both cultures into one (you'll see what I mean, if you pay attention to that kind of stuff). I apologize if all of this confuses people.

Either way, please enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!

**The Bestest Big Brother Ever**

**Prologue**

Friday, November 12  
3:46 PM

"I'm home!" Serenity announced as she stepped inside, kicking off her shoes.

"I'm in the kitchen!" her mother called from a different part of the house.

Abandoning her school bag by the door, Serenity walked down the hall and turned into the kitchen. Her mother stood at the stove, stirring a wok.

"Mmm! Smells good!" the auburn-haired girl chirped as she peered over her mother's shoulder. The older woman was stir-frying noodles, vegetables and strips of beef.

"There's a cherry pie baking in the oven right now, too. It'll be for dessert later."

"I love cherry pie!" Serenity exclaimed happily, a big smile overtaking her face.

"Yes, I know. That's why I made it," her mother answered with a soft smile of her own.

"Thanks, Mom! You're awesome!"

"Oh, that's right, Serenity, your birthday's next week. Was there anything that you wanted in particular?"

Serenity's eyes widened in surprise and her eyebrows rose slightly before they furrowed back down into a frown. This had been the question that she'd been waiting for her mother to ask. However, now that the moment had come, she wasn't so sure if she should really ask for what she wanted.

_I should just ask for those CDs I wanted, or that nice pair of boots I saw the other day… No, no, no! Serenity, you've been preparing this for a month now! You HAVE to go through with it!_ she thought to herself.

Taking a deep breath, she braced herself and opened her mouth.

"Actually, there is something I really want."

"What is it, honey? You've been doing very well in school this year, and you've been studying so hard for your entrance exams that your step-father and I talked it over and decided that deserve to get anything you want for your birthday," her mother said with an encouraging smile as she turned off the stove. "Well… within reasonable monetary bounds, of course…"

"Well, what I want won't cost any money at all, actually…" Serenity started, pausing slightly as her mother raised a questioning eyebrow. "What I really want is… to stay with Joey and Dad for a while."

"…What?" her mother asked, looking at her daughter in shock.

"It's not that I want to stay there permanently or anything!" Serenity blurted out. "It's just… I haven't seen Joey since school started and I really miss him. I haven't seen Dad for a long time, either and it would mean so much to me! And I promise that I'll work ten times as hard in school! Also, winter break's coming up soon, so I could go then. That way I won't really be slacking off from school or anything! And I'll come home for Christmas and—"

"That's enough, Serenity."

The girl clamped her mouth shut, staring down at the floor, expecting the worst. Why had she even tried?

"… Is that what you really want, Serenity?" her mother asked quietly.

"… Yes… Just for a few weeks… Please."

For a long moment, her mother didn't answer and all that Serenity could hear was the sizzling of the noodles in the still-hot wok and the ticking of the clock from the other room. Finally, her mother shifted, removing the wok from the stove, and started shovelling the stir-fry onto a plate.

"I'll talk to your step-father and your father about it, and I'll let you know what we decide."

Serenity's head shot up and she could barely stop herself from yelling out: 'YES!' It wasn't a definite answer, but it was not a complete rejection either. Nearly springing forward, the girl threw her arms around her mother in a tight embrace.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! You're the best! No, the _bestest_! I love you!"

"Now, now Serenity, you're going to make me drop our dinner on the floor. Don't thank me just yet, anyway. We haven't decided yet if you're going… And 'bestest' isn't a word, honey."

* * *

Sorry the prologue is so short, but it is just that: a prologue. I have the next chapter more or less written out already, so I will post it in a week or so.

Also, for those of you who are bound to ask: Serenity will be turning fourteen (Grade 9), making Joey and Kaiba seventeen (Grade 12), and Mokuba twelve (Grade 7). So, if Serenity seems a bit immature or too naïve, please keep in mind that she's fourteen in this story. I don't think I was much different from how she was when I was that age, so… yeah.

Anyway, please leave a review and any constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. Also, all flames will be treated as review fodder (it only racks up my review count). See you all soon!

-FireEdge-


	2. A Fateful Encounter

And I'm back! This is probably a record update time for me! (Translates to: Don't expect this to happen every time… aha…). Anyway, I'll save my comments about the story for the end, so enjoy! Oh, but just one note: Joey is not written with his Brooklyn accent (or whatever it is), because I would fail at writing it and/or forget to keep it up halfway through.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!

**The Bestest Big Brother Ever**

**Chapter 1: A Fateful Encounter**

Sunday, December 12  
5:45 PM

DING DONG!

Serenity could hear the doorbell ring through the door of the apartment. It was followed by the sound of running footsteps and the door promptly flew open to reveal a grinning Joey.

"Serenity!" he greeted before pulling her into a big bear-hug. "I can't believe this is really happening! You're staying with us for three whole weeks!"

"I know! I didn't think I'd be allowed to stay for so long!" Serenity replied as Joey finally released her.

"Good thing this coming week will be the last week before the break! Tests and exams are all done now, so we'll have tons of time to do stuff together!" exclaimed Joey. "Oh right, here, I'll grab your bags, sis."

Joey picked up the suitcase and duffle bag as he shooed Serenity inside.

"Geeze, whaddya got in here? It's so heavy!"

"Well, I'm here for three weeks, Joey!"

As they entered the apartment, Joey kicked the door closed and carried her things down the hall and into a room.

"You'll sleep in my room, Serenity. I'll sleep out on the couch while you're here," he called from inside his room.

Following his voice, Serenity walked past the kitchen and living room, which opened up on the left and stepped into her brother's room.

"You, know, big brother, your room isn't nearly as messy as I thought it would be," the young girl commented. Though his bed wasn't made up and there was a pile of clothes in one corner and various objects (mostly Duel Monsters cards) scattered on his desk, it was rather clean. She had expected there to be mouldy food and dirty plates lying around. Or something.

"That would be because he cleaned most of it yesterday," a deep voice suddenly said from behind her.

Eyes widening, Serenity turned around to see that their father had exited his room, which was situated across the hall.

"Dad!" she exclaimed, dashing towards him to give him a hug. Though she had never been particularly close to her father, she still loved him. After all, she only had fond memories of him, though they were mostly fuzzy.

A large hand ruffled her hair and she looked up to see her father giving her a lop-sided smile—just like Joey's.

"No one asked _you_, Dad!" Joey growled, his face flushed with embarrassment.

Their father snorted, but didn't answer as he walked past Serenity and down the hall. A moment later she heard the sound of the television. Serenity hadn't really expected much of her reunion with her father—her mother had warned her that it wouldn't be as warm as she may have wanted it to be—but the girl couldn't help but feel her heart sink a little bit. He hadn't even greeted her.

"Gawd, he pisses me off!" Joey gritted his teeth together, still glaring down the hallway.

"Joey, don't say that! That's so mean!" Serenity protested, though her voice wasn't nearly as strong as she had intended it to be.

Though she knew that her father loved them in his own way, he was definitely not one to show it. He also had a hot temper, something that his son inherited from him, and this led the two to clash often. When she had finally been old enough to understand the divorce, her mother had explained to her that his hot and cold attitude had been a major factor in their separation.

"Sorry, sis, but you don't live with him, and it's been a long time since you've had extended contact with him," Joey replied gently, with a shrug. "But I guess you'll find out now that you're here for three weeks."

"Don't be so pessimistic! I'm sure it'll be fine," Serenity replied, though she had to wonder who she was really trying to convince.

"Well, if you say so. I'm just surprised that he even agreed to this! I wouldn't think that he'd wanna _bother_ with having another kid around," Joey added with a roll of his eyes.

"Joey!" the girl chided again. "C'mon, it's almost dinner time, why don't we go eat instead?"

"Right! That sounds like a great idea! I picked up some spaghetti from this awesome Italian place down the street! You'll love it!" he exclaimed with a big grin.

Serenity couldn't help but giggle. She loved how Joey's mind automatically switched gears when food was involved. It'd been almost four months now since she'd seen that expression, and she felt a feeling of contentment wash through her.

Following her brother, Serenity pulled out a chair at the kitchen table and looked over the low wall that separated the kitchen from the living room. Their father was reclined on an armchair, watching a soccer game.

"Here, sis, eat up!" Joey said as he placed a plate of steaming spaghetti with tons of meatballs in front of her. Sitting down to her left, he put down his own plate and started shovelling his share (which was nearly twice the size of her own, she noted) into his mouth.

"Thanks… Um, what about Dad?" she replied, looking pointedly at their father.

"What about him? He'll get some when he's hungry. I'm not a maid," Joey stated blandly after swallowing a mouthful of food.

Serenity frowned and stared at her plate. She hadn't realized how different the relationship between her father and brother had become. Hadn't they used to get along? Didn't Joey use to always follow their father around, nearly worshiping the ground he walked on? In fact, from what she remembered from before the divorce, they had all eaten together when their father hadn't been away on a delivery.

Even now, her mother and step-father all ate at the table together every night. Her step-father was an accountant for a well-to-do firm and his job always allowed him to make it home for dinner at 6:00. She could literally count on her fingers how many times he'd missed dinner in the entire time she'd known him.

"What's wrong, Serenity?" Joey asked as she pushed her chair back and stood up.

"Getting Dad some food," she answered, taking out another plate from the cupboard Joey had left open and scooping some pasta onto it before putting it into the microwave.

Joey regarded her thoughtfully, but didn't say anything. As she took the plate out and started towards the living room, she saw him turn his attention back to his food, but she knew he was watching, curious as to how their father would react.

"Here, Dad, I warmed up some dinner for you," Serenity said, proffering him the dish as well as a fork.

Her father's hazel eyes, ones she had been told she possessed, widened slightly as he took the dish from her.

"Heh. Still as sweet as ever, huh? Thanks."

She responded with a smile before walking back to Joey and sitting down. Feeling a little bit satisfied, she started to eat.

"Huh, who woulda thought?" Joey mumbled through a mouthful of spaghetti. Swallowing, he raised his voice and called to the man across the room. "So, old man, you got anything good planned for Serenity's visit?"

"No. I'll figure it out when I get back," he answered, his eyes never leaving the television.

"Whaddya mean 'get back'? From where?"

"I'll be leaving the day after tomorrow for a delivery. I won't be back for about two weeks. If I'm lucky I'll back it back for Christmas."

"WHAT?" Joey exclaimed angrily, knocking his chair down as he stood up abruptly. "Your only daughter's here for a visit and you're _leaving_? What kinda lousy father are you?"

Suddenly, a loud thump was heard from the wall on the left and a muffled: 'Keep it down in there, Wheeler!' was heard from next door.

"Listen to the neighbour, son, and shut your trap."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY—"

"Joey! That's enough! Don't worry about it!" Serenity interrupted, grabbing his shirt in an attempt to restrain him. "It's not like it's his fault that he has to work…"

"Tch, yeah right!" Joey snorted, his jaw clenched. "I bet that this is the only reason you even agreed to this, _huh_? 'Cause you're _gone_ for half the visit!"

Their father didn't answer and Serenity shifted uncomfortably in her seat as Joey continued to fume silently. Finally, her brother picked up his chair and started eating again. She could just hear him mumble: "I shoulda known."

* * *

Monday, December 13  
7:08 AM

"Well, I guess we're splitting up here then," Joey announced. "You'll be okay?"

"Of course, Joey! I do this every day!" Serenity replied, rolling her eyes good-naturedly. "Anyway, I already feel bad enough that you got up so early just to walk me to the bus stop."

"Hehe, what're big brothers for?" Joey asked. "Anyway, it'll be great when Tea walks in and sees that _I'm_ there before her for once!"

"Oh, say 'hi' to Tea and the others for me. I hope I'll get a chance to see them soon," she replied, her face lighting up at the mention of the other girl's name.

"For sure! Tea's got to work tonight, but we'll plan something this week where we can all hang out. Anyway, I see your bus coming down the street, so I'll see you later at home!" he said, pulling her into a quick one-armed hug.

Serenity smiled to herself as she watched Joey walk away. He really had a funny way of being protective sometimes. The bus stop wasn't even a block away from the apartment.

_I'm just glad that it's only one bus ride to school_, she thought to herself as the bus pulled to a stop in front of her. Forty minutes later, it pulled up to the stop across from her school. Though Trinity Junior High did not match up to the local private school, it was still more prestigious than Domino Junior High. However, Serenity hoped that she would be able to rank well enough on the high school entrance exams that she would be able to enter the exalted Lightbridge Academy next year. She had considered going to Domino High School, but since her brother and his friends would be graduating this year (or at least she hoped he was graduating), she decided that she may as well aim for the top. So far, she had been getting high marks in her classes, and today she would be receiving the results from the first mock entrance exam.

Dashing inside the large school, Serenity was feeling much more uplifted than she had last night. Though she hadn't admitted it to Joey, she had been very disappointed at what their father had announced.

_I guess that's why Mom wanted a divorce… She probably couldn't put up with Dad being away so much_, Serenity pondered as she put her things away in her locker. Closing it, she took a deep breath and slowly breathed out. _Well, there's nothing to be done about it, so I should try and make the best of it. At least I'll still have a week with him when he gets back. And there's only two more days of school after today too! I just have to keep positive!

* * *

_

Monday, December 13  
11:45 AM

Serenity couldn't stop grinning as she walked through the school yard, heading towards a more secluded area where she could eat her lunch. Though her friends were bogged down with either cleaning duties or extra assignments and couldn't join her, she didn't mind eating alone today. For, just ten minutes ago, she had found out that she'd gotten a 95% on her mock exam.

With a contented sigh, Serenity turned the corner of the building… and was rammed to the ground.

"Oww…" she groaned as she recovered from the impact, pushing herself up off the cement.

"Ohh…" a voice moaned from in front of her. The boy who had run into her looked up and blinked. "Oh! Serenity! Sorry I ran into you!"

"Mokuba? Why are you running around for anyway?" she asked the younger Kaiba.

"Well, I was—Oh shoot!" Suddenly, Mokuba sprang up and grabbed Serenity's arm and pulled her into the shrubbery beside them.

"Mokuba, what're you—"

"Shh! Be quiet for a sec!"

Frowning, Serenity closed her mouth and crouched down, peering through a small gap in the yellow and red leaves. She was surprised (though she supposed it was to their advantage) that there were even so many leaves left on the bushes. A second later, she saw three pairs of legs run past. She could just make out their conversation.

"Where'd he go?"

"I think that way!"

"Man, he's fast!"

"C'mon, let's go! Before he gets away!"

A moment later they were gone. From beside her, Mokuba let out a relieved sigh before leaning his back against the wall and sliding down to collapse on the dirt.

"That was close…"

"Can you tell me what's going on now" Serenity asked. "And could we go somewhere else, please? This isn't exactly a comfy place…"

"Oh right! Now that we've lost those guys, we're good."

Serenity raised an eyebrow at the word 'we', but shrugged and followed the young boy out of the shrubs and they were soon sitting in the shade of some trees on the outskirts of the large school yard.

"Anyway, thanks for not giving me away back there! And sorry again for crashing into you!" Mokuba chirped as Serenity began to open her lunch box.

"No problem… But what was going on anyway?" she asked, curious. As far as she was aware, she hadn't heard anything about the young Kaiba being a target of bullies. Then again, she hadn't really seen him much at school. He was two grades below her and they'd only recognized each other at the opening ceremonies, having spoken once or twice at the Battle City Tournament. Now, they only exchanged greetings whenever they did happen to see each other.

"Well, those guys are from my class and they've been pestering me all morning…" Mokuba started. However, he trailed off as his eyes fell on Serenity's open lunch.

She'd packed it this morning, and though her new residence didn't have nearly as much food as she was used to, she'd managed to throw together a ham, cheese and lettuce sandwich, some apple slices, and a piece of chocolate cake that Joey had bought a couple of days ago.

Serenity's mouth twitched as she noticed the boy eyeing her cake.

"Did you forget your lunch, Mokuba?"

"Huh? Oh… umm, well, I left it in the class since I was in such a panic to get away from those guys," he replied sheepishly, blushing lightly.

"Here, you can have some of mine, then," she said, offering him half of her sandwich. "Though I'm sure it's not nearly as good as what you normally have."

"No, it's great!" he said, a mouthful of sandwich already in his mouth.

"Anyway, what were you saying before? You said those guys were bugging you about something?" she asked, cutting the slice of cake in half with her fork, pushing the slightly larger piece towards Mokuba.

"Well… So, KaibaCorp just came out with this new toy. It's sorta like a little machine which you can scan special Duel Monster cards with and the data gets inputted into it. Then you can play around with it and stuff. It's almost like having a virtual pet. It's going to be released for sale at Christmas time, but Seto gave me one in advance to play with. I made the mistake of showing it to those guys in my class…"

"Oh, I see. But that actually sounds really neat," Serenity remarked as Mokuba bit into his piece of cake with gusto.

"Here, I'll show it to you!" Mokuba replied, using his clean hand to pull something from his pant pocket.

Leaning over, Serenity saw that the black-haired boy was holding a rectangular, plastic object roughly the size of a Duel Monsters card—actually, it kind of looked like one—except that it was two inches thick. She noticed that a screen took up two thirds of its face and there were a couple of buttons near the bottom. At the top, she could see a kind of sensor.

"Just press that button in the middle," Mokuba instructed, putting the toy into Serenity's hand.

Turning it over a few times, she shrugged and pressed the centre button. The toy beeped and the screen started flashing before, suddenly, a hologram materialized from the screen. A Kuriboh stared back at her and blinked.

Serenity's eyes widened and her mouth opened as the Kuriboh started bouncing around on the spot.

"Here, press this button," Mokuba said, leaning over and touching another button. A ball suddenly materialized and the Kuriboh started bouncing it around. As she watched it, Serenity couldn't help but let out a: "Aww, it's so cute!"

"Yeah, Seto was aiming at a younger audience with this one… and girls, I guess," Mokuba replied with a shrug. "Anyway, it does tons more cool stuff. I don't have the cards with me, but I could bring them tomorrow to show you."

"Sure, sounds neat," Serenity answered, passing the toy back to its owner.

"Class is gonna start soon, so I guess we should get going. But let's meet here tomorrow at lunch, okay?" Mokuba said with a grin. Then the young boy blushed and added: "Oh, and I'll make sure to bring my own lunch. Hehe… Thanks again."

"Haha, don't worry about it. See you tomorrow!"

* * *

Monday, December 13  
7:48 PM

"Whew! This is the most food I've ever bought in my life, I think," Joey exclaimed as he heaved the grocery bags onto the kitchen table.

"Well, I'm sorry if I don't wanna eat instant noodles and ham sandwiches every day," Serenity said with a roll of her eyes as they began to unpack the groceries they had just bought.

"Haha, well neither of us really cook much… Oh, but I still can't believe how well you did on your practice exam! My sister… the super genius!" he said, his left arm yanking her into a rough hug.

"Don't exaggerate, Joey! I'm not a genius! I had to study hard to get those grades! Anyway, let me go so that I can make our lunches for tomorrow!"

"Sweet! What're you making?"

"Well, I can't cook as well as Mom can, but I figured rice, omelette, and salad. I think I'll whip up some of that mango pudding powder we bought, too," she answered, pulling out the carton of eggs, and the pudding mix from one of the grocery bags.

"Sounds great to me! Do you need any help?"

"Yeah, could you put some rice down?"

Half an hour later, Serenity washed her hands and smiled. Three lunch boxes lay on the table and the mango pudding sat on the counter, cooling off.

"Dad's already asleep, right? I'll leave him a note that his lunch will be in the fridge," Serenity said, grabbing a piece of paper and a pen.

"Yeah, he leaves pretty early tomorrow morning," her brother replied.

"Well, I'm going to go do some homework before I head to bed," she said as she concluded her note and put it on the kitchen table.

"I… am not going to do that. But yeah, you should definitely do your homework," he agreed, crossing his arms and nodding self-importantly, though a smile twitched on his lips.

"Do as I say, not as I do, huh, big brother?" she retorted with a big grin before giving him a wink and heading off to her temporary room.

* * *

Actually, this isn't where the chapter was supposed to end. In fact, the actual first chapter was twice this length, but I decided that I'd rather cut it into two parts because it was getting disproportionately long.

Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed it. This chapter, I've introduced Mokuba, and though the chapter had a huge focus on Serenity (I really did enjoy exploring her family history a little bit), the next chapters will include his point of view as well. My ideal goal is to split the chapters evenly between them so that they both get approximately the same amount of screen time. As I mentioned, I did go into the Wheeler family's background a little bit, and I will continue to do so later on in the story, though not in great detail. I have other plans for their exact story.

Also, as for Mokuba's character, I've decided to go with him being intelligent, but mischievous (if only to move the plot along…). You'll see more of this later on. However, he's just as smart as Seto, though he's completely willing to use his power of cuteness to pull strings. Just note, as with Serenity, he is still a kid, so he's rather innocent and easily distracted. Serenity on the other hand, while still equally as childish, is more mature in comparison to Mokuba.

Either way, I hope that this chapter turned out all right. Please leave a review and let me know if you liked it or not, or if you have any comments and feedbacks! Since I annexed a chunk of this chapter for the next one, an update won't take quite as long as I expect it to. Keep your eyes peeled!

-FireEdge-


	3. The Deal

Hello again! So here I am with the update. A little later than what I was aiming for, but I lost track of time. Anyway, this chapter will finally move the story forward, and Kaiba will be making his first appearance. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!

**The Bestest Big Brother Ever**

**Chapter 2: The Deal**

Tuesday, December 14  
6:23 AM

Somehow, she knew that the third lunch box would still be sitting in the fridge when she opened it that morning. Still, she couldn't help but feel disappointed.

"Hey, don't worry about it, Serenity," Joey said softly as he clapped a hand gently on her shoulder. "Dad's got tunnel vision. He probably didn't even notice it. It's not that he left it there on purpose."

"… I know. I'm okay," she replied with a small smile at her older brother.

"Here, I'll take it to school with me and share it with the gang. They'll love it," he said, giving her shoulder a squeeze. "Especially Tristan."

"Thanks, big brother," Serenity answered, her smile growing slightly larger.

Glancing back into the fridge, she paused for a moment before grabbing the extra mango pudding and packing it into her school bag.

* * *

Tuesday, December 14  
11:37 AM

"Serenity! Over here!" Mokuba yelled as he spotted the older girl walking from across the school yard.

As she approached, the girl smiled and greeted him before settling on the grass beside him. She set her lunch box down before her and Mokuba couldn't help but wonder what she'd packed today.

"So, how are you, Mokuba?" Serenity asked.

The boy's head snapped up and he grinned to hide the fact that he'd been eying her lunch… again.

"Not much. Those guys didn't have a chance to bug me today, since I ran out really fast," he replied, pointedly taking his school bag and fishing out his lunch. As he opened the wrapper of his pineapple bun, he looked up to see Serenity staring at him.

"Um, what is it? Is something wrong?"

"Is that your lunch?" the girl asked with a light frown.

"This?" Mokuba asked, pointing at the sweet bread in his hand. "Yeah, pretty much."

"But… that's just snack food," she said as she slowly began to pull out her own lunch.

"So? It tastes good!" he retorted, finding himself pouting. For a second, she had sounded very much like Seto did whenever he found Mokuba eating junk food right before dinner… Really though, it wasn't like Seto ate proper meals either! So what right did he have to tell _him _what to eat anyway?

Mokuba's inner tirade came to an abrupt halt, however, as soon as he laid eyes on Serenity's open lunch box. Suddenly, he didn't feel much like eating his measly bun anymore.

"See? This is what a proper lunch should look like," the girl said, apparently catching his gaze. "I can't believe that your brother lets you eat stuff like that every day for lunch."

"Eheh… Well, he doesn't actually know," Mokuba admitted, forcing himself to lean away from Serenity's lunch box. "Our cook usually makes us lunch, but he's on vacation right now, and Seto's been too busy to hire a temporary one for only a week. So, he's just given me money to buy lunch from the cafeteria."

"Somehow, I don't think _that_ was what he meant by food," Serenity remarked, though a smile twitched at her lips, undermining her attempt to sound serious.

Mokuba only shrugged and grinned guiltily. She was definitely right, though. Seto wouldn't be happy at all if he found out that Mokuba had bought sweet bread for lunch… Or that he'd spent the extra money buying sweets to stash in his room…

"You know, I was going to give you this extra mango pudding I had… but seeing as you have such a sweet lunch already, I think I'd better not," the auburn-haired girl said suddenly.

"What? Mango pudding? No way! I haven't had any for soo long!" Mokuba exclaimed, his eyes widening. "Please, please, please can I have it?"

He looked at Serenity with his trademark puppy dog eyes—they _alway_s worked on Seto. Mokuba was dismayed to find, however, that it wasn't producing the intended effect. Little did he know, Serenity wouldn't fall for that trick, for she had often employed it herself when she was younger. Of course, she had outgrown that stage, having started to learn—as Mai had once told her—that it was just as effective to clasp her hands and look up with a small smile. Or, at least she had found that it worked extremely well on Tristan and Duke.

"Well, I might consider it if you maybe went and bought a real lunch…" she mused, tapping her chin thoughtfully.

"Done!" Mokuba exclaimed and he didn't even hear Serenity giggle as he ran towards the cafeteria. Luckily for him, the line-up had already more or less disappeared and he grabbed a sandwich and an apple.

When he returned, he found that Serenity was already eating her lunch… and that the mango pudding was sitting near his abandoned pineapple bun.

"Thanks Serenity!" he chirped, dropping down onto the grass and biting into his apple. He picked up the pudding, just now noticing that it was in a plastic container and not the usual packaging he'd seen on store-bought ones. "Oh, did you make this?"

"Yeah. It's just pre-made mix though."

"Then… did you make your own lunch?" Mokuba asked, surprised. He'd tried making lunch once and had made a mess of the kitchen, much to the cook's chagrin, and the final product definitely hadn't looked as nice as Serenity's.

"Today, yes. Usually, my mom makes my lunches, but I'll be making my own for the next couple of weeks," she answered.

"Why's that?" he asked, moving onto his sandwich.

"Well, my parents are divorced. When that happened, I went with our mom and Joey went with our dad. But I'm going to stay with Joey for the break, and he doesn't really know how to cook," she explained.

"Oh, I see. But why're you staying with Joey? Did something happen?"

"No, I just want to spend some time with him," Serenity answered with a smile that Mokuba had yet to see on her face before. However, he could tell exactly what it conveyed.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," he said with a grin. "I know that Seto is super busy and that he does his best to spend time with me, but I wish that he had more free time for us to do stuff together."

Across from him, he saw Serenity frown slightly.

"Yeah… Sometimes, Joey gets so caught up in Duel Monsters and stuff that I never know where he is…"

"Really? I guess he must have to practice a lot to get good," Mokuba remarked, recalling all the times he'd heard Seto commenting on 'the mutt's' lack of skills.

"What do you mean?" Serenity asked suddenly. "Joey's already good!"

"Well, I mean, he's not _bad_, but he's nowhere _near_ Seto's level! My brother's the best when it comes to Duel Monsters, after all," the boy replied with a smug smirk.

The auburn-haired girl's brows drew down and she frowned.

"If I recall, Joey told me that Yugi beat your brother. More than once, too."

Mokuba flushed. He'd almost forgotten about that. Though, technically, Yugi did beat his brother several times, Mokuba never really counted them against Seto. Serenity clearly saw that she had the upper hand and began to smile triumphantly. No way was Mokuba going to let her get away with that stab against his brother!

"Yeah, well, at least Seto can stand on his own two feet! _Your_ brother is always relying on Yugi!" he blurted out.

"What does Joey have to do with this? And he doesn't always rely on Yugi! Joey's super tough! And…And he can win any fist fight, he's so strong!" she retorted, looking rather flustered.

"Well… well so can Seto! He's so tough that he can take people down without even punching them! They just drop like flies when they try to attack him!"

_There!_ Mokuba thought, crossing his arms haughtily.

"So? Joey's… Joey's nicer! He's got tons of friends and he's not always scowling and scaring everyone off!" Serenity said with an equally self-satisfied expression.

"Seto's not always scowling! … Okay, so maybe he does do that a lot, but… but at least he's super smart! Seto said that Joey'd be lucky if he even graduates this year!"

"Joey's not stupid! Not to mention that he works super hard at everything! If it weren't for him, I'd have lost my eyesight!"

"Well, so does Seto! It was his hard work that got us out of the orphanage and made KaibaCorp so successful!"

"And Joey's always there for me no matter what! He ran across town once when I was home alone and I was scared!"

"Seto took off an entire day off of work when I got the flu!"

"Joey saved up all of his allowance for an entire year to get me a birthday present!"

"Seto bought me _ten_ birthday presents once because he was on a business trip and missed it!"

"That's not the same thing at all!" Serenity protested.

"S-So what? My brother's still better than yours!" he replied. "He's the _best_!"

"Well… Joey's… Joey's the _bestest_!"

Mokuba froze. How did you beat 'bestest'? Oh no! He couldn't let her win! No way!

"Yeah? Well… well prove it!" he retorted.

"What do you mean, 'prove it'? Isn't that what we've been doing this entire time?" she questioned quizzically.

"No! We were just saying stuff! I mean, prove it in real life!" Mokuba replied.

"Huh?"

"I mean… like, in front of me! So that I can _see_ it!"

"Uhh… I don't think it works that way…" Serenity remarked, brows furrowed in confusion.

"Well, then I guess that means I win! Seto's the best!" he replied triumphantly.

"What? That's not fair! What about you? You have to prove it, too!" Serenity cried in dismay.

"Ugh… Fine… So then…" The gears in Mokuba's head creaked as they spun, trying to think of a solution. A moment later, a light bulb went off in the younger Kaiba's head. "Ah ha! I've got it!"

"Okay, what is it?" she prodded, curious despite herself.

Mokuba turned to the older girl with a mischievous grin. One that, if Serenity were Seto Kaiba, would've been threatened with having all of his video games taken away until he forgot about it.

"The only way to prove whose big brother is the best is to see it for ourselves, right? So… we'll just have to swap brothers!"

Serenity blanched visibly and gaped.

"W-What? That's… that's ridiculous!"

"Not really, when you think about it!" he replied earnestly, though he really didn't want her to think about it at all. This seemed like it would be way too fun! "We'll just change places for… say a week and that way we'll be able to judge who's better ourselves!"

"I don't like that idea at all, actually… If you want to win so badly, Mokuba, then you win," Serenity said with a roll of her eyes.

"Oh? So then you're admitting that Joey's just a 'mutt' after all? Just what I thought," he replied with a smirk. He wasn't letting this go that easily. When Mokuba Kaiba wanted something, he always got it.

The effect was instantaneous. Serenity's eyebrows shot up before darting right back down and her cheeks flushed.

"He is _not_! Take it back!"

"Okay… as long as you agree to my proposal," Mokuba responded lightly, imitating something he'd heard his brother say before. Extending his hand towards Serenity, he smiled. "C'mon, let's make this a deal and shake on it! We'll change places, and big brothers, for exactly one week. After experiencing the other side first-hand, we'll _really_ be able to see who's the best: Seto or Joey."

Serenity eyed his hand warily and she hesitated, clearly trying to think things through. Mokuba sighed. Lunch was about to end! He didn't have time to wait!

"Unless of course, you think Joey isn't up to the task? 'Cause I know Seto could definitely prove you wrong…"

"DEAL!" Serenity cried and grabbed his outstretched hand.

A devilish grin spread across Mokuba's face and judging by the expression that was slowly overtaking Serenity's, she was immediately regretting her decision.

"A deal it is!"

* * *

Tuesday, December 14  
5:58 PM

Serenity's fingers drummed on the desk nervously as she stared at the clock. It had been almost an hour since she'd opened up her workbook and she'd barely finished one question of her homework assignment. She had been too preoccupied with replaying the event that had transpired earlier that day. The young girl could swear that she'd seen Mokuba mouth: 'A deal it is!' a hundred times already in her head. It never got any better each time.

_I can't believe I _agreed_ to that! Wasn't the whole point of me coming here so that I could spend time with Joey? If I go through with this stunt then I'll lose a whole week with him!_ Serenity thought to herself, biting her lower lip absently. _But… if I back down I'll be admitting that Seto is better than Joey… And I _did_ make a deal… How would I look if I broke it? But then Joey would be mad that I even agreed to it… Or would he be mad if I _didn't_ agree to it? I mean, he really, really doesn't like Seto… Oh why did I agree to it?_

Thus the process repeated itself in Serenity's head, and had been doing so for the entire day. After she had shaken Mokuba's hand, the young boy had determined that they would meet at Central Park after school tomorrow and break the news to Joey and Seto at the same time. It was, apparently, the best way of convincing them to accept the idea. Then, before she could even protest, he had run off to class and the bell signalling the end of lunch had rung.

Up until now, Serenity had been debating on whether or not to tell Joey. If she wanted to, she could just forget it all and avoid Mokuba—after all, tomorrow was the last day of school before the winter break. Yet a part of her wanted to go along with the black-haired boy and just throw reason to wind, jump into the excitement of the challenge…

"SERENITY! I'M HOME!" Joey yelled.

The girl jumped out of her chair, startled, and scrambled out of the bedroom to see her brother taking off his shoes at the door.

"J-Joey! Welcome back…" she squeaked, feeling guilty for some reason.

"Hey, sorry I'm back so late. I stopped by Yugi's place and we were checking out these new cards that his grandpa just got int. They were really cool! He got in a bunch of super strong fusion monsters. Too bad they're so expensive…" Joey said, rambling off as he shrugged off his school blazer. "Anyway, I totally lost track of time and before I knew it, it was five-thirty and I ran home!"

"Oh… umm, it's okay. I was just doing homework, anyway," Serenity replied curling up on a corner of the couch as Joey sprawled over the rest of it.

Seeing how happy and excited her brother was, she suppressed the urge to look disappointed. While they hadn't technically made any plans for after school, or told each other when they'd be home, she had thought that maybe he'd come back straight away so that they could do something together. There had been a movie on TV that she'd wanted to watch—glancing at the clock now, she realized that it had started half an hour ago.

"Oh right, almost forgot to ask—how was your day, sis?" he asked, sitting upright again.

"Umm… not bad. Nothing really exciting…" she lied, twirling a strand of her hair around an index finger.

"That's too bad. But school's almost done, anyway, so I guess it doesn't really matter," her brother said with a shrug. "Oh yeah, so do you have any plans tomorrow? Tea's got a dance recital at six. We were thinking we'd all go and support her. Whaddya think?"

"Oh! I'd love to see Tea dance!" Serenity exclaimed. Whenever she'd spoken to the older girl, Tea had often told her about her ongoing dance lessons, and Serenity had always wanted to see her perform.

"I knew you'd wanna go! We're gonna grab something to eat beforehand, too, so make sure you don't eat lunch too late."

Serenity smiled in response and let out a small sigh. Well, it looked like she wasn't going to be able to meet Mokuba. After all, she couldn't just wreck everyone's plans… and she really did want to see Tea dance.

_It's for the best, anyway. This is just a sign that this whole thing wasn't meant to be. I'll find Mokuba tomorrow and convince him of how silly our deal is…

* * *

_

Tuesday, December 14  
9:06 PM

Mokuba paused outside the door leading to his brother's office. It wasn't shut all the way, and a dim light leaked out into the dark hallway. Taking a deep breath, Mokuba pushed it open gently and poked his head inside. At the other end of the sparsely-decorated room, Seto was seated at his desk, his tall figure and laptop illuminated by a lamp.

"Big brother?" Mokuba called tentatively.

"... Yes?" the older boy responded after a long moment. He didn't look up from his laptop and his fingers continued to type away.

"Umm… I just wanted to know if you were busy tomorrow… You know, after school?" Mokuba asked, slipping into the room entirely, taking a few steps towards his brother. However, the darkness made it seem like he wasn't getting any closer.

"I won't be going to school tomorrow. I've got to finish preparing a presentation that will be given at a board meeting tomorrow afternoon," he answered.

"Oh… When's your meeting?"

"Three o'clock."

"Oh…" the young boy repeated, now leaning on the front of the dark, wooden desk.

"Why do you ask?" Seto asked suddenly, looking up from his laptop to look at him.

"No reason really. I just thought that if you weren't busy, we could do something… Like go to the park or something," Mokuba replied with a half-hearted shrug, tracing some shapes into the miniature Zen sand garden on the desk.

"Unfortunately, that won't be possible," his brother responded, already back to typing.

"Okay… Well, how about Thursday, then?" the younger Kaiba prodded.

"… I don't know. Maybe. Shouldn't you go to bed now, Mokuba? You won't be able to get up tomorrow, otherwise."

"… All right… Good night, Seto," Mokuba replied, pushing himself off of the desk and walking out of the room.

"Good night, Mokuba," his brother said as he exited the room.

_Looks like I'll have to tell Serenity that the plans have changed a bit… But it should still be fine…

* * *

_

Haha, so you know that maturity I was talking about last chapter? It clearly got tossed out the window during their debate. So, yes, their argument is meant to be absolutely ridiculous and nonsensical—just like most children's arguments are.

Also, I'm sure you're probably going: "What's this? Serenity's backing out?" Why, yes, she is. You didn't really expect her to want to give up her time with Joey and run off to the Kaiba mansion would you? But no worries, this story wouldn't exist if she didn't somehow end up there. You'll just have to wait until next time to see what happens.

Oh, and a note to those who picked out the fact that Serenity refers to Kaiba by his first name: This is due to her interaction with Mokuba. He continually refers to him as 'Seto', and I highly doubt that Joey (despite popular belief) talks about him on regular basis, so she unconsciously thinks of him as 'Seto'. A problematic habit as we will soon find out, haha.

Anyway, leave a review with your thoughts! Feedback is what keeps me going =). I'll try and get an update up soon—my goal is within two weeks at the very latest. Until then!

-FireEdge-


	4. Second Thoughts

Ahaha, oops, so two weeks for an update mysteriously turned into a month… Time must be out to get me or something. Anyway, sorry again for the long wait, but final exams swallowed me whole, chewed me up and just recently spit me out again. So, after making you guys wait forever, here's the next chapter (it's extra long as compensation)!

Oh, just one note: I've finally decided that they're in Japan. Except that I'm just going to keep all of the English version names/terms (except for Burger World—I kept the Japanese name instead of the English version's Burgerpalooza simply because the English name made me laugh so hard I couldn't take it seriously). Also, I realize that the school system is all screwed up now. OH WELL, plot holes make the world go 'round. So, just pretend that everything makes sense, haha… Anyway, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!

**The Bestest Big Brother Ever**

**Chapter 3: Second Thoughts **

Wednesday, December 15  
11:40 PM

Mokuba sighed as he walked into the school again. He'd tried going back to the spot they'd met for the last two days, but Serenity was nowhere to be found. Now how was he supposed to tell her that their plans had changed? If only he'd asked for her phone number… Or did she even have a phone? The young boy supposed that he'd have to just go to the park and wait for her later…

With another sigh, Mokuba trudged through the hallway with the intention of returning to his classroom. He had rushed out to find Serenity, but since that hadn't worked out he may as well go see if any of his friends were still around. However, as he walked past an open classroom, a girl a little older than him stepped out.

"Serenity, I'm just going to take the trash out. I'll be right back!" the girl called over her shoulder, two garbage bags in her hands.

Mokuba's head snapped around. Had that girl just said 'Serenity'? Backpedalling, Mokuba stuck his head into the classroom and, sure enough, found himself staring at the back of Serenity Wheeler. She was standing in front of the chalkboard, cleaning it with a cloth and spray bottle.

"SERENITY!" the boy cried, stepping fully into the room.

"Oh my god!" she exclaimed, dropping the spray bottle as she half jumped, half spun around. "Mokuba? Umm… What're you doing here?"

As she leaned down to pick up the spray bottle, Mokuba hoisted himself onto one of the desks in the first row. Was it just him or did she seem a bit edgy? She had leaned the spray bottle against the chalkboard and was playing with the rag in her hand. Her eyes wouldn't meet his, either, and seemed to be fixed on something behind him.

"Oh, well, I was actually looking for you. It was just lucky that I heard someone say your name, so I came in," he replied, kicking his legs in the air idly.

"Ah, I see… Yeah, I have clean-up duty today, so…" she said, trailing off as she turned to listlessly wipe at the chalkboard. "Umm, so—"

"Anyway—" Mokuba started to say, and stopped as he realized that they had both spoken at the same time.

"Er, you go first," Serenity offered, turning around to face him again.

"Oh, okay. Well, I was just going to say that I think we'll have to reschedule our meeting today," he said. "Seto's busy, so he won't be able to make it."

"Really?" she asked, her eyes widening, sounding much more excited than he had expected. The boy looked at her with a raised eyebrow and she coughed, before adding: "That's… ah… that's too bad…"

"Yeah… I don't know when we'll be able to reschedule it either… So I'll have to get back to you," Mokuba replied with a disappointed sigh, momentarily ignoring her suspicious behaviour.

"Well… Maybe we shouldn't reschedule. I mean… your brother's so busy, and this idea is pretty silly anyway…" Serenity responded, tugging at the cloth in her hand again and looking at something on the floor.

"Wait, what?" Mokuba asked. Her odd conduct was suddenly falling into place in his head. "You don't want to do this anymore? But… But we had a deal!"

"Ummm… Well, I know that, but…"

The black-haired boy's eyes widened. She _was_ chickening out! No wonder she was being so jumpy!

"C'mon, Serenity, you don't mean that! Just because it's not working out now doesn't mean we have to call it off," he said, jumping off the desk to approach her. Now that he was in front of her, he managed to catch her eyes. He knew that his puppy dog eyes wouldn't work, but maybe if he looked really, _really_ sad… "Please?"

"Er… Well… I just don't think it's such a great idea anymore… And, umm… I don't think… they would go through with it…" Serenity stammered slowly, and for a moment, Mokuba thought he had her. However, a second later, she yanked her eyes away from him and focused her gaze on the chalkboard. "So… like I said, I think we should just give up on this. Neither of us really has anything to prove, anyway. Joey and Seto are both great big brothers, and as long as we know that, it's all that matters, right?"

The boy's shoulders sagged, unsure of what to do next. He'd never dealt with someone like Serenity before. At first, it seemed like she'd be easy to manipulate, like most people he had dealt with in his life, but just when he thought he'd got her, she suddenly planted her feet and refused to budge.

"I… I guess…" Mokuba finally replied dejectedly, scuffing at the tiled floor with the toe of one shoe. "I just… nevermind…"

There must've been something in his voice—what, he wasn't sure himself—for the girl turned around to look at him again and her brows were drawn downwards as she stared at him.

"Well… I know you probably have tons of plans during the break, but maybe we can all get together and do something fun," she said gently with a smile. "We could go ice-skating or something. I'm sure if you asked nicely, your brother would come along, too. Wouldn't that be better than switching places?"

Mokuba stared back at her open face and rolled around what she had said in his head.

"Yeah, that does sound kinda fun," he said, smiling back at her. He couldn't really see Seto ice-skating, but maybe if he _begged_ him… Yeah, that might work!

"Okay, then let's exchange phone numbers so we can get in touch during the winter break," Serenity responded, looking much more relaxed than she had before.

"Sounds good!" Mokuba chirped, regaining some of his usual energy. "I don't have my phone on me, but I'll write my number down for you and you can send me a text or something."

"All right, I'll grab a—"

The black-haired boy was already in his own world, thinking of ways to coax Seto into going ice-skating, and completely ignored Serenity. He picked up a piece of chalk and proceeded to scrawl his cell phone number onto the newly cleaned chalk board.

"Anyway, I'm going to go eat my lunch now, so see you later, Serenity!" he said, dropping the chalk back onto the ledge and skipping to the door. Before he exited, he paused and turned around. "And you could always send me a message if you, you know, change your mind or something."

With that, he passed through the doorway, not bothering to look back again. If he had, he would've seen Serenity staring helplessly at the chalkboard she'd, so meticulously, just cleaned.

* * *

Wednesday, December 15  
3:35 PM

"Welcome home, Master Mokuba," Marshall, their butler, greeted as the young boy stepped through the front entrance of the mansion.

"Hey, Marshall," Mokuba replied with a smile as he handed the man his jacket. "Is Seto home?"

"No, he is not. However, Mr. Kaiba wished for me to inform you that he will be home early tonight. He said that he will be taking you out for dinner when he returns."

"Really? He said that?" the boy asked, surprised. When he'd asked if his brother was home, it had more been out of habit than anything; he hadn't expected him to be home. Thus, the fact that he would be returning early was indeed unusual. Not that Mokuba minded.

_Maybe he's trying to make it up for not being able to go to the park… I guess Serenity had a point, today. Seto really is a great brother, I don't need to prove anything.

* * *

_

Wednesday, December 15  
4:16 PM

"It feels like it's been so long since I've seen everyone," Serenity mused as she walked beside Joey. They were headed to the Burger World near Domino High School, where they were supposed to meet Yugi, Tea, Tristan and Mai.

"Yeah, not since summer, right? Everyone's super excited to see you again," Joey replied, throwing her a grin as they crossed the street. "But we're kinda late… We were supposed to be there at four…"

"Sorry… If it hadn't taken me so long to find something to wear, we would be on time," she said, blushing slightly. She had wanted to wear something fancier than usual for Tea's dance recital, but she hadn't realized that her nice clothes were buried right at the bottom of the suitcase she had yet to unpack.

"Don't worry about it, sis. I'm always late, anyway! We'll just have to eat super fast! And, besides, you look good," her brother reassured her, slinging an arm around her shoulder. "… Tristan had better keep his eyes to himself, though…"

Serenity giggled, and had a feeling that she hadn't been supposed to hear his last sentence.

"By the way, Joey, when's Tea's recital over again?"

"Ummm, I think it's an hour long or so. So I guess seven, maybe seven-thirty at the latest," he replied. "Why?"

"Well, I thought maybe we could go see a movie after. It starts at quarter to eight, so we'll have tons of time to get to the theatre," Serenity said.

"Oh yeah? Sure that sounds good. What movie is it? Hope that everyone else hasn't seen it yet…"

"Umm, well, I was hoping maybe just the two of us could go? So that we could spend some time together, you know?" she replied.

"Okay, then just the two of us," Joey agreed with a grin.

A minute later, they walked through the automatic sliding doors of Burger World. Taking a quick glance around, the siblings soon spotted their friends seated at a booth in the corner.

"Yo!" Joey greeted as he dropped onto the bench next to Tristan, shoving the other boy over to make room for Serenity.

"Late as usual, Joey," Tea chided, with a roll of her eyes, from her seat across the table. "Hey, Serenity, how have you been?"

"Good! I can't wait to see you dance tonight, Tea," Serenity answered, returning the brunette's smile.

"Yeah, hopefully I won't screw up. I'm so nervous I can't even eat!"

"You've been practising so hard lately, though, so I'm sure you'll do fine!" Yugi added from next to her, taking a sip from his milkshake.

"Geeze, you guys ordered already?" Joey said, taking a French fry from Tristan's plate.

"Well, we weren't sure when you'd be getting here, so we thought we'd just go ahead and eat," Yugi replied with a shrug and a sheepish smile.

"Eh, it doesn't matter. It doesn't look too busy anyway, so our food will come fast," Joey said, waving a nearby waitress over. "I'd like to get Combo B please, with root beer. What do you wanna eat, sis? I'll pay for it."

"Oh, umm… I'll just get a cheeseburger and small fries," she told the waitress. "And water's fine for a drink."

"So, Serenity, you're staying with Joey for the rest of the break, right?" Tristan asked, leaning past Joey so that he could see her as he talked.

"Yup! I'm really surprised that our parents let me, but I'm really happy about it," she answered.

"Yeah, I can imagine that you'd be excited to spend time with your big brother. After all, it's been almost four months since you've seen each other," Tea added. "And we won't take up too much of your time with him, either."

"Huh? You don't have to do that! I like hanging out with you guys, too. And I still promised to go out with some of my school friends, so—" Serenity started to protest.

"Oh no, it's not like that, Serenity!" Tea interrupted. "My family's going to go to Hong Kong for two weeks. We'll be leaving tomorrow evening, actually."

"Wow, really? You're going to Hong Kong? I've always wanted to go there!" Serenity exclaimed.

"Yeah, and Gramps and me are heading to this gaming convention in Kyoto for a week. So we'll be leaving in two days," Yugi added.

"Man, everyone's leaving town except for us! Oh well, me, Serenity and Tristan will have a blast without you guys!" Joey said, flinging one arm around Tristan and the other around Serenity, drawing them close to him.

"Dude, personal space!" Tristan yelped as the motion bashed the side of his head against Joey's shoulder. "And, just so you know, _I'm_ going out of town, too. Sort of."

"Whaaat? Whaddya mean? You're abandoning me, too?" Joey exclaimed.

"I said, _sort of_. I'm gonna be working full-time at this big warehouse about an hour out of Domino."

"Well that's not the same at all! You're such a liar!"

"I'm still _out of town_!"

"Oh, whatever! Stop exaggerating! But good riddance, I don't want ya around anyway! You're just gonna hit on Serenity again the whole time!"

"I am not!"

Tea caught Serenity's eyes and rolled them with a small smile. Serenity only giggled and started eating as the waitress came back with their orders.

"By the way, where's Mai?" Serenity asked, taking a bite out of her cheeseburger, ignoring the two boys next to her.

"Right here," a velvety voice replied from behind her.

Turning around in her seat, Serenity looked up to see Mai Valentine smiling down at her.

"Hey, kiddo," she greeted with a smile as she pulled up a chair from a nearby table.

"M-Mai! When did you get here?" Joey exclaimed, wrenching himself out of Tristan's headlock.

Serenity ducked her head and let her hair hide her smile. She wasn't sure if anyone else had noticed it, but Joey's face had definitely turned a shade pinker than usual. Not that she blamed him, Mai was gorgeous and, ever since Battle City, she had a feeling that he'd had a crush on her.

"Just now. But I swear I could hear you two from down the street," she replied with a smirk.

"Yeah, you two are so embarrassing," Tea said with a sigh. "And, Joey, you should really start eating your food. It's almost five!"

"Oh shoot!" Joey cried, picking up his burger and shoving it into his mouth.

"Whoa there, Joey. You don't have to eat _that_ fast, you'll choke and kill yourself. Then what's Serenity going to do?" Mai teased.

"Ah'wll be fwine!" he reassured her from around a mouthful of bun and meat.

"Well, just in case, I've got enough room in my car for four of you, but Tristan you've got your motorcycle, right? So we'll get to the dance hall in no time at all."

"Thanks, Mai!" Yugi said with a smile.

"No problem," she replied. "And as our guest of honour, you can have the front seat, Serenity."

* * *

Wednesday, December 15  
6:07 PM

Mokuba didn't hear his brother enter the room until the older boy leant over the back of the couch and ruffled his hair.

"Seto!" he exclaimed, turning his gaze away from the television to look up at his brother.

"Sorry I'm so late. Something came up, but I put some people on to monitor the problem so that I could get home as fast as I could," he said with a twitch of his lips that could almost be called a smile.

"S'okay. I was watching TV, so I didn't really notice the time anyway," Mokuba lied as he sat upright on the couch and stretched his stiff limbs. He had been expecting his brother to call and tell him that he'd be unable to come home at all.

"It's a little late now, but do you still want to go out for dinner? I assume you still haven't eaten yet," Kaiba said.

"Yeah! Can we go for pizza?" Mokuba replied.

"Sure. Go put your jacket on."

Twenty minutes later, their limo pulled up in front of Delizioso, a classy Italian restaurant that they'd been to once or twice before. Though, by the way that the maître d' greeted Kaiba, Mokuba had a feeling that his brother came here often for business meetings.

After settling into a small and cozy booth, lit by the soft light of a hanging lamp, Mokuba immediately flipped through the menu, skipping to the pizza list. The names of the pizzas, he thought, were much fancier than they needed to be and he didn't bother trying to read the very Italian-sounding names. Instead, he glanced over the descriptions and eventually settled on what sounded like pepperoni and cheese but with ten more adjectives than needed.

"I want to get… umm, this one," Mokuba said, pointing at the item on the menu, as the waiter arrived at their table.

"The pepperoni e quattro formaggi pizza, then? What size would you like?"

"He'll get the personal size. I'll just have a fettuccini alfredo with chicken breast," Kaiba replied.

"And anything else to drink, or shall I just refill your water and root beer?" the waiter asked, marking down their orders.

"No, that's fine," Kaiba replied. Once the waiter had walked away, Kaiba turned his attention back to Mokuba. "So, how was school today?"

"Same as usual… The teacher assigned us a bunch of homework for the winter break, though…" Mokuba answered, taking a sip of his root beer. "What happened at work today that made you so late, anyway?"

"A glitch came up in the new hologram system we're working on. It's proving to be harder to fix than usual, but I put my best engineers on it, so they _should_ have to problem solved by tomorrow… We'll see, I suppose."

"Oh, that's too bad… I guess that kinda sucks that it's happening now, what with it being the holiday season and all," the younger boy replied.

"Actually, things in management and marketing are running smoother than usual this year. The new staff members I hired earlier this year are proving to be much more competent than their predecessors. I've had less work—and screw-ups—than usual to deal with, which is a pleasant surprise," Kaiba remarked.

"Really? So do you think you'll have more free time this year, then?" Mokuba asked, a spark of hope rising in him. At this same time last year, his brother had been so flooded by work that he seemed to live at the KaibaCorp building.

"Well, if things keep up as they have, I should," his brother answered with a small smile.

They lapsed into a comfortable silence as they waited for their food to arrive. It was funny, but Mokuba never found the need to talk incessantly when he was with his brother. The silence wasn't awkward, rather it felt nice and soothing.

"Here you are, sirs," the waiter said as he set their plates down. "Please enjoy, and if you should need anything, do not hesitant to call."

Mokuba immediately began to bite into his pizza; he hadn't eaten since lunch time and he felt ravenous. After having devoured half of his eight inch pizza, he finally spoke again.

"So, Seto, if you do end up having some time… I was thinking that we could go skating," he said casually.

"Skating? I haven't done that in years."

"Exactly! Actually, a few of my friends wanted to go, and I think it'd be really fun if we could all go together!"

"No offence, Mokuba, but I don't think I'd have that much fun skating with a bunch of twelve year-olds… nor would they, I think," Kaiba replied dubiously, his blue eyes narrowing slightly.

"Well… these friends are older… And, umm…" Mokuba trailed of as his brother regarded him suspiciously. The boy wasn't exactly sure how he was supposed to tell the older boy that he wanted him to go ice-skating with Serenity Wheeler and her brother… whom he very much disliked. Instead, he decided to change the subject. "Oh yeah, so I'm stuck on this one level in this game I've been playing. If you play with two players, it's easier to beat. Do you think you could play with me a little when we get home? Just for a little bit?"

Kaiba opened his mouth to say something, but then seemed to change his mind and smiled slightly again.

"Sure. But not for too long. Just because you have no school, doesn't mean you should—"

A sudden beeping sound interrupted him. Frowning, the older boy reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.

"Kaiba speaking," he said curtly.

Mokuba couldn't hear what the person on the other end was saying, but judging by the expression on his brother's face, the young boy's stomach dropped.

"… Well, did you fix it then? … Tsk, I thought I gave you permission to do that already… What do you _mean_ you need me there to do it? … Are you incompetent or something? No, don't answer that, it was a rhetorical question. I'll be there in about twenty, twenty-five minutes. And try not to make it any worse will you?"

The older Kaiba let out a disgusted sigh as he hit the 'End' key on his phone and shoved it back into his pocket.

"Trouble…?" Mokuba asked half-heartedly, already knowing the answer.

"Unfortunately," Kaiba answered. His blue eyes flickered to the unfinished food before them and then back up to Mokuba's face. "I'm sorry, Mokuba, but I'll need to head back to KaibaCorp to deal with this. You can finish eating on your own or we can just wrap it up to go, if you want. "

"… Do you really have to go in tonight? This can't wait until tomorrow morning?" he asked instead, staring at his plate.

"No, it's better if I go now," Kaiba replied, already standing and removing his coat from the rack beside their booth. "… Do you want to order some dessert to take home before we leave?"

"No," Mokuba replied, unable to suppress a pout.

"… Mokuba…"

"It's fine, Seto. Don't worry about it," the boy said, forcing a small smile onto his face.

Kaiba buttoned up his coat and briefly squeezed Mokuba's shoulder.

"I'll make it up to you later, okay?"

"Okay, sure, big brother…" he replied with a shrug.

* * *

Wednesday, December 15  
7:13 PM

"You were amazing!" Serenity exclaimed, catching Tea in a hug as she came out from backstage.

"Yeah, you definitely made it worth our money," Mai agreed, wrapping one arm around Tea's shoulders in a brief hug before letting the boys attack her with slaps on the back.

"Thanks guys!" Tea said with a laugh. "I can't believe I didn't screw up, though, I was so nervous!"

"Well you certainly didn't look nervous," Yugi responded with a smile.

"And the way you guys were all moving at the same time was really neat, too!" Joey added.

"Yeah, and nice choice in song! I thought it was going to be something like slow and stuff, but it was really upbeat!" said Tristan, leaning himself on Joey's shoulder.

"Well, if you'd paid attention to when I told you that I was taking _jazz_ dance, then maybe you would've realized that sooner, Tristan," Tea answered with a roll of her eyes. Her huge smile, however, wrecked the stern impression she was attempting to exude.

"Hey, so where are you guys headed now?" Yugi asked as they all started walking towards the lobby of the dance hall. "If you guys don't have plans, wanna head back to the shop and hang out for a little bit? Gramps just stocked up on a ton of hot chocolate powder that's just asking to get used."

"Oh yeah, you've still got that movie I lent you, right? Let's all watch that together," Tristan added.

"I think I'll pass, guys. I'm beat, and I still need to finish packing, too," said Tea, waving her hand tiredly.

"C'mon, Tea! The night's still young! Just stop by for an hour or something," Tristan chided, elbowing her in the rib lightly.

"Ow, Tristan! Geeze, fine, I'll stop by for a bit! But if I don't get everything packed, you guys owe me!"

"Sorry, but I'm _really_ going to pass," Mai said. "I have to get up early for work tomorrow, and I haven't been getting a lot of rest lately. Gotta get my beauty sleep, you know…"

"Oh well, maybe next time, then, Mai," Yugi replied before turning to Joey and raising an eyebrow in question.

"Sounds like a good plan to me. I wanted to swing by the shop sometime anyway to check out those new booster packs that came out last week. Two birds, one stone. Oooh yeah!" Joey said, pumping his fists in the air.

"But, Joey, I thought we were going to go see a movie, remember?" Serenity interrupted, unable to hide a small frown.

Up until then, she hadn't said anything, content with watching her brother and his friends interact. She knew that they wouldn't think twice about her joining in on the conversation, but, at times like that, she always felt that if she were to open her mouth, she would be intruding on something. Then, as Joey looked at her with a surprised look, she felt her gut clench, and she had the distinct feeling that she had indeed just popped a bubble.

"Oh right…" Joey mouthed quietly. His brows drew down and one of his hands ran through his messy hair. "Well, do you really wanna go tonight? How 'bout we go to Yugi's tonight and then we'll go see the movie some other day? Would that be okay?"

Serenity's frown deepened and she ducked her head down, letting her hair fall in front of her face—a habit she had when she didn't want people to see that she was upset. She knew that Joey hadn't said what he did with the intention of making her unhappy, but she couldn't help but wonder why he was being so dense. It wasn't like she didn't like hanging out with everyone, but she had been looking forward to spending time with just the two of them.

"Umm, actually, I'm not feeling that great right now, anyway," she muttered. "So you guys can go without me, I'll just head home and sleep."

"What? You're feeling sick? What's wrong?" Joey asked, gripping her shoulders gently and tucking some of her hair behind her ear as he attempted to search her face.

"It's nothing serious, just my stomach is a bit upset… Maybe it was the burger, or something," Serenity replied with a shrug, looking over Joey's shoulder rather than meeting his eyes.

"Okay, well then let's just go home," Joey said. "Sorry, Yuug, I guess—"

"No, Joey, it's fine, I'm not dying or anything. You go with everyone else, and I'll just bus home. It's not even that late yet," she protested firmly.

"No, I'm not letting you go home by yourself—it's not late, but it's still dark out, and we're downtown!"

"You know what, Joey, why don't you go on ahead. I'll take Serenity home," Mai said suddenly.

Serenity's eyes widened a little as she felt the older woman's hand on her shoulder.

"What?" Joey asked in surprise.

"If she's feeling sick, then what she needs is some peace and quiet. If you're there fussing over her the whole night, she won't get any rest at all," Mai responded matter-of-factly. "You go on ahead to Yugi's and I'll make sure Serenity gets home safe and sound. Right, Serenity?"

"Uh… Yeah. Mai'll give me a ride home, so I'll be fine," Serenity agreed. "You have enough fun at Yugi's for the both of us, okay?"

"Are you sure…? Well… All right… But just call if anything's wrong, okay? I'll just stay for a little bit and then come straight back home."

"Yeah, yeah, we get it. C'mon, Serenity, let's go. See you guys later," Mai said, gripping Serenity's shoulders and steering her towards the exit.

"Bye!" Serenity added as the others chorused their goodbyes.

Once they were outside, Serenity let out a small sigh and quietly followed Mai as she led them to her car. She knew that she was being petulant and bratty, and she knew that, once she got home, she would probably regret that she had shoved Joey away in her spite. However, right at the moment, she felt satisfied, and deep down, she hoped that her brother would spend the rest of the night feeling guilty.

Mai still hadn't spoken as they opened the doors of her red sports car and climbed in, but the auburn-haired girl didn't notice as she buckled her seatbelt. However, when Mai didn't start the car, Serenity turned towards her and was about to ask what was the matter when she saw that Mai was turned in her seat, facing her, with her arms crossed.

"So, what's eating you, kiddo?" Mai asked, once she'd gotten her attention. "Joey's pretty thick-skulled so I'm not surprised he didn't notice—even if you're his sister—but I have a feeling you're not sick at all. Or at least, not physically."

"… Was I that obvious…" Serenity asked meekly, tugging at a strand of her long hair. Somehow, she didn't think that lying to Mai was going to get her anywhere—especially home.

"I'd say so, but do enlighten me," the other woman replied with a soft smile. "Are you mad at your brother?"

"Well… this is going to make me sound really immature… Or, well, I guess I _was_ acting pretty childish… But, Joey said that we'd go see a movie together after this. Just the two of us…" Serenity muttered, clenching her fists in her lap.

"Ah, so that's it," Mai remarked. "You know, hon, your brother's a great guy. But he's a complete idiot, no offence. I'm sure I don't need to tell you this, but he probably didn't even realize he was doing anything wrong."

"But that's the thing! He should know that! I mean, I'm only going to spend a few weeks with him, and he gets to see Yugi all the time!" the girl retorted. "I mean, I like hanging out with everyone, but I kinda just wanted to spend some time with him, and I thought he did, too…"

"And that's exactly what you should've told him, my dear," Mai replied.

"… I know… It's just… I dunno…"

"Well, Joey, being _Joey_, you really need to tell him these things. You've gotta speak up and stand up for yourself a bit more, okay? Make him realize what he's missing out on when he decides to ditch you, you know what I mean? I think that if you really surprise him with something like that, he'll start to realize that he's being a big dummy," the blonde added, turning the key in the ignition.

However, Serenity didn't answer right away. As Mai had been talking, something had clicked in her head.

"Serenity?" Mai questioned, glancing at her quickly before returning her eyes to the road.

"Oh, sorry, I was just thinking about what you said… Actually, I think you're right. Maybe I just need to show him how much he takes me for granted…" she mused, more to herself than to the woman beside her.

"See, that's the spirit!"

"Thanks, Mai," Serenity replied with a smile.

The young girl then took a deep breath and pulled out her cell phone from the small purse she carried. Scrolling through her contacts, she finally found who she was looking for, and after a brief pause, she started to type out a message.

* * *

Wednesday, December 15  
7:36 PM

As he watched his brother walk towards the entrance of the KaibaCorp building, Mokuba let out a sigh, blowing his bangs out of his eyes. Why'd he even bother to ask if he could put off work until tomorrow? Mokuba knew that when Seto Kaiba wanted to get something done, he got it done. Fast.

_Still… it wasn't like a hacker had got into the computer system or something. It was only a glitch in a project. Couldn't he just… hold off for once?_

Slumping down in his seat, he felt the car move forward again, taking him home. Though he knew how important KaibaCorp was to his brother—and it was important to _him_ as well—there were times where he wished that they could just be like normal teenagers…

Leaning his head against the window, Mokuba watched as the buildings and streetlights blurred by. The ride from KaibaCorp to the brothers' mansion was relatively short, and as he spotted a café on the corner of a street, he knew that the car was minutes away from home. Just a turn down this street, and then—

Mokuba jumped as he felt his phone vibrate in his sweater pocket. As he reached inside his jacket to fish out the phone, the phone stopped vibrating—it was a text message.

Flipping the phone open, he saw that he'd received a message from an unknown number. Curious, he hit 'View' and his eyes widened at what he read.

_**Hey, Mokuba, its Serenity. So I think I'd like to reconsider the plan… do u no when we can meet up?**_

For a long moment, Mokuba stared at the short message on his phone's screen. He almost couldn't believe it. Finally, shaking his head slightly, he began to type a reply back. However, he was interrupted by more vibrating as his phone received an incoming call. It was his brother.

"Hi, Seto," Mokuba greeted as he pressed the 'Talk' key.

"_**Mokuba, I won't be home until late tonight, so don't wait up for me,"**_came his brother's voice from over the phone.

"Oh, okay…"

There was a pause on the other end, and a moment later his brother spoke again.

"_**We'll go out for lunch tomorrow. You said you wanted to go to the park, right? We can go to the one by KaibaCorp. Come by at noon and I'll drop what I'm doing for half an hour."**_

Mokuba blinked in surprise. That was new.

"Sure, that sounds great. I'll come over at noon tomorrow, then. Good night, Seto."

"… _**Good night, Mokuba."**_

After hanging up, Mokuba stared at his phone, unsure of what to do. He didn't even notice that they'd pulled up in front of the mansion.

"Master Mokuba?" the chauffeur questioned, when the young boy made no move to step out of the open door.

"Just a second," Mokuba replied.

Taking in a deep breath, he started a new text message to Serenity Wheeler.

_**Ok. Bring Joey with u to the park by KC tmo at 12:15. Meet me by the crepe stand near the fountain. C u then!**_

Hitting 'Send', Mokuba snapped his phone shut and stepped out of the car.

"Was something the matter, sir?"

"No, it was nothing… Oh, look it's starting to snow."

* * *

And, so it begins… The reasoning for their swap has changed from how I originally envisioned it (which was something very spontaneous), but I think I like it better this way. As I thought more on the idea, I realized that I really wanted to flesh out the dynamics behind Serenity and Mokuba's relationships with their siblings—that is, that it's not always as perfect as it seems at first glance.

Anyway, I hope that I managed to capture Joey and Kaiba well enough without making them seem too OOC. Though there is no question as to how much they care for their respective siblings, I don't believe for a second that they're both perfect. Joey is especially at that age where friends seem more important than family.

Also, I hope the scene with the gang wasn't too bad. I felt as if they may have dragged on a bit, but I find that conversations among friends tend to meander aimlessly. Oh, and notice how I made half of them indisposed for at least the next week. Not a convenient plot device, I swear.

Anyhow, please leave a review with your thoughts. Any feedback (or words of encouragement!) is very much appreciated. This is especially important for me with respect to the 'big brothers'. Either way, thanks for reading!

P.S. I have no imagination when it comes to names of places. Hence the lame name of the Italian restaurant (Google translator—the end).

-FireEdge-


	5. The Deal, Take Two!

This was actually supposed to be up a few days ago, but it gave me much more trouble than I expected it to. It was probably the hardest chapter to write thus far, so I had to spend a lot of time trying to make it somewhat enjoyable to read, haha… Anyway, hope it's not as bad as I feel like it is.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!

**The Bestest Big Brother Ever**

**Chapter 4: The Deal... Take Two!**

Thursday, December 16  
11:56 PM

Stepping out from the elevator, Mokuba walked down the short hallway and stopped in front of the secretary's desk.

"Hello! Is my brother in his office?" the boy asked.

"Ah, hello, Mokuba," the secretary greeted with a smile, as she pushed up on the glasses perched on her narrow nose. "Yes, Mr. Kaiba is expecting you."

"Thanks! See you later!"

Mokuba gave a wave of his hand and then walked past her desk and knocked on the thick, wooden door of his brother's office. He didn't wait for a reply before pushing it open and stepping inside, letting it swing shut behind him.

"Hey, big brother!"

"Hi, Mokuba," Kaiba answered, glancing up briefly from his laptop. "Give me a minute to finish this up and we can get going."

"Sure," the boy replied, dropping himself onto the chair that sat in front of his brother's desk.

Suppressing a sigh, he watched idly as his brother's fingers flew over the keyboard. Leaning his head back, he began to count the ceiling tiles, but blinked when he felt his phone vibrate in his hoodie pocket. Flipping his phone open, he found a text message from Serenity.

_**Hey! We r on the bus on the way there. B there in bout 20 mins. Crepe stand right?**_

"Hey, Seto, are you almost done?" Mokuba asked, calculating how long it would take them to get to the park. It would be a five minute walk, but who knew how long it would be until his brother was ready to go…

"Five more minutes," Kaiba muttered, brows furrowing as he continued to tap away at his laptop.

Drumming his fingers on the armrest of his chair, Mokuba began to count the seconds…

* * *

Thursday, December 16  
12:17 PM

"Hey, Serenity, why did you wanna come to this park again?" Joey asked as they strolled down a walkway, their clasped hands swinging back and forth between them.

"Well… there's this crepe stand that my friend told me about that I really wanna try out… and, it's pretty close to where you work, anyway, right?" she replied, twirling a strand of hair with her free hand. As the fateful moment drew closer and closer, her stomach began to do more elaborate flips. Even thinking about consuming food was making her nauseous.

"Yeah, the Autumnwood department store isn't too far from here. I could probably walk there in ten minutes," her brother answered.

"You know, I can't believe you got a job at the department store, Joey! It seems so unlike you!" Serenity remarked with a giggle.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" he snapped good-naturedly. "Anyway, I'm just stocking shelves and stuff—Whoa!"

Serenity let out a squeak as Joey slipped on a patch of ice and stumbled forward, dragging her with him by their linked hands. Luckily, however, the siblings caught themselves before they hit the snow-covered pavement.

"You all right, sis?" Joey asked once he'd caught his breath again.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It sure snowed a lot last night… It's really starting to look like winter now."

"That's for sure," he replied, kicking at some of the fluffy snow on the ground. "Oh hey, is that the crepe stand you were talking about?"

"I think so," she answered, spotting the fountain that Mokuba had told her about. However, she saw no sign of the Kaiba brothers as they walked over to the stand, which was protected by a large parasol.

"So, Serenity, what kinda crepe do you want?"

Serenity didn't answer, for, just then, she spotted two familiar figures walking towards them. She felt her heartbeat quicken and her mouth suddenly felt dry; the time had finally come, but the question was, would she be able to go through with it?

_No, I have to. I can't keep chickening out! Remember what Mai said!_

"Sis? What's—Ugh!" Joey's nose wrinkled in disgust as his gaze fell on what had caught Serenity's attention. "You know, I'm not very hungry anymore. Let's get outta here, Serenity, I don't want to deal with the jerk over there—I see him enough at school, I don't plan on looking at his ugly mug while on break."

"Umm, Joey, could you hold on a second? There's actually something I need to talk to you about," Serenity said, swallowing the lump in her throat as she finally tore her gaze away from the approaching figures, who hadn't seemed to notice them yet.

"Okay, that's fine, but let's not talk here."

"No, we have to stay here," she protested, though she did take a couple of steps away from the crepe stand so that they were standing near an empty bench.

"Whaddya mean we have to stay here?" her brother demanded. As he looked up again at the Kaiba brothers, he let out a grunt as he realized they'd noticed them. "Great…"

"Well, well, if it isn't the mutt," Kaiba drawled as he drew abreast of the siblings, a lazy smirk on his face. Serenity gulped as his cobalt eyes flickered towards her, taking her in, but moving away just as quickly. She wasn't sure whether she should feel offended or relieved that he didn't otherwise bother to acknowledge her.

"Hey, Serenity, did you just hear something? No? That's what I thought. Let's go, sis, something here really stinks and I'd rather not stick around," Joey retorted, pointedly ignoring the other boy.

Kaiba sneered, but didn't answer and instead proceeded to continue on his way. As he took a step forward, Serenity and Mokuba glanced at each other and exchanged a look. In the brief second that their eyes locked, Serenity could see her panic and anxiety reflected in the younger Kaiba's eyes.

"Wait, Seto!" Mokuba exclaimed, grabbing the sleeve of his jacket.

"What is it?" his brother asked, glancing down at him with a frown.

"Umm… Serenity and me were talking the other day and we made a deal!" Mokuba blurted out.

"What?" Joey demanded, looking at Serenity curiously.

"Who?" Kaiba asked at the same time, brows furrowing and deepening his frown.

Serenity opened her mouth to say something, but found that she couldn't force the words out of her mouth. Luckily, Mokuba continued on for her.

"Her. Joey's sister," answered Mokuba, pointing a finger at her.

Kaiba's eyes once again turned towards her and she nearly took a step backwards at the intensity of his gaze. She wasn't sure if he intentionally fixed her with such a hard stare, or if it was just how he always looked, but she felt as if he was burning a hole through her. Just looking at him, she could feel what little resolve she had dissolving away.

"What are you talking about, Mokuba? What deal?" Kaiba asked, his eyes moving away from Serenity to settle on his brother.

"Yeah, what are you guys talking about? When did you talk to each other, anyway?" Joey added, even more confused than he was before, due to Serenity's silence.

"We go to the same school," Mokuba replied, his hands fidgeting with the cuff of one of his jacket sleeves. "We… We made a deal that we'd trade places for one week to prove who has the better big brother."

Serenity found herself holding her breath as her eyes flickered towards Joey's face to see his reaction. However, from the corner of her eye, she could just register Kaiba's visage as well. It seemed that the full meaning of what Mokuba had just declared took a moment to sink in. The girl couldn't help but notice how different their reactions were.

Kaiba's eyes widened in shock, but quickly narrowed in suspicion before directing a hard glare at Mokuba. He said but a single word: "What?"

Her brother's reaction, however, was something she hadn't been expecting. She had thought that he would blow up and start raging. Instead, he threw back his head and laughed. Her eyes widened slightly and her lips parted into a small 'o'.

"Don't be silly, Mokuba. You can't fool me!" Joey said smugly as his laughter died down. "Is this your idea of a joke, Kaiba? Getting your little brother to pull my leg? Pathetic!"

"I-It's not a joke! I'm serious!" Mokuba retorted angrily, his face flushing red.

"I don't think so, kid. Serenity hasn't said a thing to support what you're saying," the blond snorted. "Anyway, she would never do something like that! Not in a million years."

At Joey's words, something in Serenity's mind snapped, and she felt a hot feeling surge up from her stomach and burn her throat.

"Y-You're wrong, Joey!" she managed to choke out.

"Huh?"

"We made a deal the other day at school. We're going to switch places for a week!" she said forcefully, glaring up at her big brother with a new-found vigour.

"Don't be ridiculous," Kaiba said, pulling her attention away from her brother. "You can't seriously think we'd agree to this."

"Y-Yeah! What _he_ said!" Joey added. "I can't believe I'm agreeing with _Kaiba_, but he's right! What do you mean you wanna switch places anyway?"

"Like I said before, we're trying to prove whose big brother is the best!" Mokuba jumped in. It seemed that Serenity's outburst had restored his motivation. "And what better way to do it than by walking in the other's shoes?"

"Don't be silly, Mokuba," Kaiba snapped. "That's completely illogical."

"Yeah, there's nothing to prove! I'm clearly the best!" Joey said with a smirk.

"Excuse me?" demanded Kaiba, his eyes fixing Joey in his cold stare.

"You heard me. There's no point to them switching places, since it's obvious that I'm better than you in every way imaginable."

Serenity looked at Mokuba and mouthed: 'Now what?' The boy glanced quickly at the two older boys, who seemed to be trying to kill each other with their eyes, and shrugged helplessly. To the auburn-haired girl, it seemed as if the situation were starting to get out of hand—or rather, _their_ hands.

"Tch, in your dreams, mutt. The only thing you're better at than me is _failing_," Kaiba scoffed with a sneer. "C'mon, Mokuba, we're leaving. If we stay here any longer my brain cells will die."

"No!" Mokuba exclaimed. "I told you, Seto, me and Serenity made a deal! We have to go through with it!"

Serenity could see that the younger boy was floundering. Things definitely weren't going as planned, and unless they said something now, it would all be over.

"We're leaving," Kaiba repeated, ignoring his brother's outcry.

"Hah, that's right, just turn tail and run, Kaiba. Who's the little mutt now?" Joey said with a laugh.

"Y-Yeah, Seto! Are you admitting that Joey's better than you?" Mokuba added, grasping at Joey's words like a lifeline. "I… I thought you were better than that, big brother! But… But you're just being a big chicken!"

Kaiba's back was turned to them, so Serenity couldn't make out his expression, but she could've sworn that the temperature dropped a couple of degrees (or maybe the cold was just finally getting to her). Tearing her eyes from his back, she looked at Mokuba, who seemed frozen in place, looking somewhat horrified at what he'd said. Somehow, she could tell that the boy was quickly losing his resolve. At the same time, she realized that the next moment would decide the whole matter.

"So, I guess you win, Joey!" Serenity blurted out, her mind whirring, trying to come up with something to salvage the situation. "You would've won anyway, if we'd traded places. But it doesn't matter if we swap places, anyway. Just by agreeing to the idea instead of walking away, you proved that you're better!"

"Huh? When did I—" Joey started, looking at Serenity in confusion. However, before he could continue, Mokuba seemed to have regained control of his body.

"Yeah, I guess you do win, Joey… I didn't think Seto would… _surrender_…" he said dejectedly with an over-exaggerated sigh.

"You're the _best_, Joey! You totally won this!" Serenity added with an enthusiastic nod before she turned to stare at Kaiba's back again. She was aware that both Joey and Mokuba were both doing the same thing.

A few seconds later, though it felt like an eternity, Kaiba turned back around and somehow managed to glare at all three of them at once.

"I did _not_ surrender."

"So, then you're agreeing to the deal," Mokuba said, pointedly wording it as a statement and not a question.

Before Kaiba could respond, which would evidently be with a 'no', Serenity cut in.

"That doesn't matter, 'cause you'll still win anyway, right Joey?"

"Uh… Y-Yeah!" her brother stuttered as he stared helplessly at her. A conflicted look passed over his face momentarily before he lifted his head up proudly and levelled a gaze at Kaiba. "That's right, I'm a way better big brother than you could ever be in a thousand years!"

"I don't think you know what you're saying," Kaiba said in a dangerously low voice, his eyes flashing. His gaze briefly flickered towards Mokuba before returning to stare down Joey. "You have _no idea_ of what you're talking about."

"Oh, I think I do," Joey replied. "I'm saying that I'm a better big brother. If I were to be Mokuba's big brother, I'd do a better job than you would. And even if I didn't—which I would—I sure as hell know that you could never be a good brother to Serenity."

"Big words coming from such a small brain," Kaiba snorted.

"Yeah, well, I can prove it. I may not be the smartest guy on the block, but I'm a helluva lot friendlier. You, on the other hand… Serenity would probably get nightmares if you tried reading her a bedtime story," Joey said, shrugging his shoulders.

"C'mon, Seto. You can totally prove him wrong!" Mokuba said, choosing this moment to interrupt. "If you agree to what me and Serenity worked out, you can show him exactly how awesome you are. He can't even compare to you, he'll see!"

"I highly doubt that, Mokuba, but he won't agree anyway. He already knows I've won," Joey replied with a triumphant smirk. "Unless…" At this, the blond stuck out his hand into the space between him and the other boy.

Serenity couldn't believe her luck and, for once, blessed her brother's obliviousness. He clearly hadn't realized that she and Mokuba had been manipulating—rather badly, but who was counting?—him into egging Kaiba into agreeing. She may not know Kaiba at all, but she had a feeling that, now that Joey had extended the offer so blatantly, he would not refuse.

"Fine, Wheeler, I'll agree to this stupid game. But this is only because I know that Mokuba will run back home within a day," Kaiba said after a long moment. Stepping forward, he grasped Joey's hand and, once again, the deal was sealed.

Serenity and Mokuba both looked at each other and exchanged looks that clearly expressed how relieved and utterly surprised they were. They could barely believe it. Their silly, half-baked plan had finally taken a solid form—they were really going to switch big brothers.

* * *

Thursday, December 16  
10:01 PM

Mokuba stared at the small suitcase he'd just finished packing. Though his body had already accepted the situation, his brain still couldn't register that he was _actually_ going to be staying at the Wheeler residence for seven whole days starting tomorrow.

After the deal had been sealed by the two elder brothers, everything had become a blur. He was certain that words had been exchanged (he remembered someone saying: tomorrow morning), but he wasn't sure exactly how they had parted ways. All he remembered was finding himself following Seto back to the KaibaCorp building. His brother hadn't said anything to him, and once they'd gotten back to his brother's office, Seto had simply said: "We'll talk later."

Then, the black-haired boy had high-tailed it out of the building and come home. It had taken him a good hour to calm down from adrenalin rushing through his body, and then slowly—distracting himself numerous times—packed his belongings.

Now, he just had to wait for his brother to return from work. He knew that Seto wouldn't back down, now that he'd actually agreed, but that definitely didn't mean that he was happy about it. And Mokuba had a feeling that he was going to really get it…

As if on cue, he faintly heard footsteps coming down the hallway, towards his room. His bedroom door was ajar, and a few moments later, he saw his brother standing in the doorway.

"Hey, Seto. Welcome home," Mokuba greeted with a weak smile.

At first, Kaiba didn't say anything, and Mokuba saw his brother's eyes fall on the bright red suitcase in the middle of his floor.

"Tell me, Mokuba, what exactly are you trying to prove?"

"Whaddya mean?" Mokuba asked, feeling his stomach starting to twist in ways it really shouldn't. "I told you before didn't I? Me and Serenity had this conversation the other day at school about whose big brother was better… It kinda got out of hand and we somehow agreed that the only way to decide would be to prove it. And this was the best way I could think of."

His brother did not look moved, and stared at him impassively. He clearly thought he was lying. Which was preposterous, since he really _was_ telling the truth… Well, most of it, anyway…

"I know it sounds stupid—and it is, I guess, when you think about it—but I've got my pride, too!" the boy protested. "And, umm… I promise to behave if you go through with it?"

"I already agreed, didn't I?" Kaiba asked, letting out a sigh. "Though I must've been out of my mind to do so…"

Mokuba chose not to comment on that and simply offered a small smile.

"Well, it's only for a week. And just think about it! If you can prove to Joey's precious little sister that you're better than him… Well, I think that'd be the ultimate victory, right? I'm sure you can do it! All you need to do is make some time to spend with her."

"And you wouldn't rather I spend that time with _you_?" the other boy asked, boring his dark blue eyes straight into Mokuba's.

The raven-haired boy dropped his gaze immediately. He wished that his brother weren't so perceptive… Then again, he wasn't the teenaged owner and president of KaibaCorp for nothing. Still, Mokuba wasn't about to let his brother take this away from him. Originally, he really had just thought that the swap would be fun, and an adventure. However, when Serenity had originally backed down, he'd started to think about it more and more. He'd realized that he really didn't need to prove anything about his brother… But he still couldn't help wondering….

"You've got nothing to say, Mokuba?"

"Nope!" Mokuba replied, snapping out of his thoughts. "Of course I want you to spend time with me! But this sounds like an adventure. And I really, _really_ wanna prove Serenity wrong!"

The boy skipped forward and wrapped his arms around his brother's waist and looked up at him with his puppy-dog eyes.

"C'mon, Seto, make the most of this. For me! Just pretend it's a game! And you _always_ win at games!"

His brother stared back at him, and Mokuba couldn't tell what he was thinking.

"I hope you understand that this means you won't be getting a Christmas present."

Yes! He'd done it!

"That's fine!" Mokuba chirped, flashing his brother a toothy grin.

"Or one for your next birthday."

"Wait, what? That's not fair at all!"

* * *

Thursday, December 16  
10:13 PM

Serenity sighed as she dropped herself onto the sofa. She had finished packing her bags (or rather, repacking what little she had unpacked in the first place), and she had even cleaned the entire apartment for lack of anything better to do. However, that had been about six hours ago… Since then, she had watched so much television that her eyes hurt and pointedly ignored the homework that she had been assigned for over the winter break.

The auburn-haired girl was especially anxious for Joey to come home. After he'd shaken hands with Seto Kaiba—and they'd immediately released hands as if burned—they'd managed to work out that they would start the swap tomorrow morning (the sooner the better, they'd said). Then Joey had needed to rush to work, and they'd parted ways.

Serenity had accompanied her brother to the department store, but had been too afraid to say anything, and Joey had been too caught up in his own thoughts to bother breaking the silence. So she'd said good-bye at the doors of the six-storey building and returned home on her own. After eight-and-a-half hours, she was sure that Joey would've had plenty of time to think on how crazy it all was…

For a few—or many—minutes, the young girl stared at the ceiling and listened to the ticking of the clock that hung on the wall behind her. Then, the door to the apartment burst open and Joey came inside with much stamping of his feet.

"Joey!"

"Hey, sis, I'm home!"

"Ummm, how was work?" Serenity asked, resting her chin on the back of the sofa so that she could watch him.

He tossed off his runners and shed his jacket as he entered the kitchen, draping it over a chair.

"S'okay. Starting to get busy now that Christmas is coming up and all that," he replied as he opened the refrigerator and pulled out a can of pop.

"I saved you some supper, it's in that plate on the second shelf," she said, pointing to the still-open refrigerator.

"Oh, thanks!"

Joey took out the plate of rice and instant curry that Serenity had thrown together earlier that evening before using his foot to close the refrigerator door. Taking off the plastic wrap covering, he stuck it in the microwave and turned around to look at Serenity.

"So… about tomorrow…"

"Umm, yeah?" she asked, resisting the urge to slink down so that the back of the sofa would hide her.

"Is it… well… really happening?" he replied, rubbing his neck with one hand.

"I guess so. I mean, we all agreed to it, didn't we?" Serenity said with a shrug. "Anyway, you're the last person that I thought would get cold feet…"

"No, no, that's not it!" Joey protested, pulling out a chair and sitting down. "It's just, well… where'd you guys come up with this? I mean, it's so… bizarre."

"Like we said before, we got into this argument at school, and Mokuba convinced me that this was the only way to prove that you were better than his brother," Serenity answered, feeling bad that she was keeping the truth from her brother. "I mean, I know this is a really silly idea and I shouldn't have agreed to it. I don't even know what I was thinking! But… well, now that I _have_ I don't want to back out…"

"Heh, I guess you're kinda like me in that way, huh?" he replied with a small smile.

"Yeah, I guess so," Serenity said, returning the grin.

"Well, I suppose that it's a good thing Dad's gone all this week… It's just too bad that… Nevermind."

"Nevermind what?" she asked, curious. For a second, a funny look had passed over her brother's face.

"It's nothing! Was just talking to myself," he answered, waving a hand dismissively.

Just then, the microwave beeped, and her brother turned away from her to retrieve his food.

"Joey?"

"Yeah?" he asked, as he swallowed a mouthful of curry rice.

"You're not mad at me that I dragged you into this, are you?" she asked quietly, tugging lightly at a strand of hair.

"'Course not!" he replied with his usual reassuring smile. "I'll take any chance I can to beat that snotty bastard to the ground, and you know it. And, anyway, this is for your honour as much as it is for mine! We'll both get through it and prove to those two money-bags that they shouldn't mess with Wheelers!"

Serenity gave a small smile and nodded. She was happy—and sad—to see that her brother had accepted the situation so well. Still, she felt even worse now that she wasn't telling him everything. For a moment, she almost wanted to tell him the truth (since she was sure it would work just as well as this whole swapping of places) and call it all off…

_No. No. No. It's too late now! I have to stop second-guessing myself! I made a decision, so I have to stick with it! Just think of it as a learning experience! Joey will finally be able to realize how much I mean to him, just like Mai said, and… maybe… What did Mom always call those…? Oh right, journeys of self-discovery. She said that she had one when she was younger, when she went on a trip around Japan by herself. I'll just pretend that I'm doing the same. Mom said that she came out of it a different person, so maybe I'll be able to learn something from all of this, too…

* * *

_

Okay, so like I said before, this was a really hard chapter to write, and I don't really know what to think about it. It was especially hard to decide on how to make the brothers react. I hope that the reactions were appropriate. I mean, of course they would be against it, but I figured that their rivalry would eventually lead them to act like the reckless teenagers that they are (that is, agree to the plan)—I mean, they've done crazier things in the actual series. And for some reason, I always thought that Joey would take it better than Kaiba does (no, he hasn't really thought too much about the fact that Serenity will be _living with Kaiba_).

Either way, I hope that this chapter wasn't too boring and was remotely enjoyable. I promise that the next chapter will be more interesting and light-hearted instead of being so broody. Oh, and if no one caught on, Serenity and Mokuba both have their own reasons for wanting to go through with the swap, but they've kinda agreed that they weren't going to tell their brothers the real reason. Of course, the brothers have their suspicions, but—being the good big brothers they are—let it go and agree to go along with it all.

Anyway, I'll try and get another chapter up soon! My goal is to write it up before I head back to school (which means it will, if all goes well, be up in the first week of January). Until then, take care and happy holidays!

-FireEdge-


End file.
